Digital Home Thoughts: Xbox Exec on PS3: "1080p... will be basically impossible"

"Speaking with Kikizo Games, Xbox's Director of the Game Technology Group, Scott Henson, had his doubts about Sony's claim that PS3 games will feature 'full HD' (1080p resolution): "I think 1080p, just to address that directly, will be basically impossible. I think if you talk to any developer they will tell you that they will not have a performing game at 1080p.""



Early insider reports from PS3 developers have essentially said the same thing. The PS3 will not require all games to be 1080p capable, nor will most developers be trying to make 1080p native games. There simply isn't enough horsepower under the hood in either the PS3 or the Xbox 360 to make that happen, and still have decent framerates and visual effects. Not gonna happen. I think what we will see in the PS3 is the ability to take a 1080i signal and upconvert it to 1080p. The bigger question is "why"? If you have a 1080p TV, it can do that 1080i to 1080p upconversion for you, so why do the conversion in the console? I think Sony was grasping at straws when they published the early specs for the system, and wanted an advantage over Microsoft. Touting 1080p was an easy way to give themselves that extra little edge, but I think it's going to backfire when they can't deliver the goods.